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Washington DC Capitol: Battle for Senate Majority
Photo: SAUL LOEB / AFP
The Senate is almost as important as the Presidency in the United States.
If the party that provides the president fails to gain a majority, it will be unable to get many important laws through.
In particular, the current Senate leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, thwarted many projects during Barack Obama's tenure after the Democrats lost the Senate majority in 2014.
So President Donald Trump and his challenger Joe Biden and their parties invest a lot of money and time not only in the fight for president, but also in the Senate races.
Currently the Republicans have a 53-seat majority and the Democrats have 47 Senators.
There are 35 places to choose from - the senators are appointed for six years each, a third is re-elected every two years.
According to the statistics portal "Fivethirtyeight", the Democrats have a chance of winning a majority in the Senate in 76 out of 100 scenarios.
We present some of the most exciting Senate races here:
Colorado
Incumbent:
Republican Cory Gardner
was elected to the Senate in 2014.
He is loyal to Trump, most recently voting in favor of Amy Coney Barrett's controversial appeal to the US Supreme Court. When asked if he thought Trump was a person of moral integrity, he said, "Yes. Me wish he were more specific about his communication with the Americans. "
In 2016 it sounded completely different.
At the time he said he could not vote for Trump because his bad qualities were beyond "mere moral deficits".
Challenger:
Democrat John Hickenlooper
was the state governor from 2011 to 2019.
In 2019, he ran as his party's presidential candidate, but gave up before the primaries.
Hickenlooper stages himself as the middle candidate.
According to surveys, he is currently up to nine percentage points ahead of Gardner, and the Cook Political Report also sees Hickenlooper ahead.
Biden is more than ten percentage points ahead of Trump, according to polls in Colorado.
Georgia
Incumbent:
David Perdue, a Republican
, is an ally of Trump.
Perdue was elected to the Senate in 2014.
At a recent rally for the president, Perdue mispronounced the name of Joe Biden's vice-presidential candidate, Kamala Harris.
"Kah-ma-la or Ka-mah-la or Ka-mala-mala-mala, or I don't know, whatever ..." he said.
Democrats criticized it as racist, Perdue's team announced that the senator had made a mistake.
Challenger: The
Democrat Jon Ossoff
is an investigative journalist and CEO of a UK production company.
For example, he shot documentaries about the terrorist militia "Islamic State".
In 2017 he lost the election for a seat in the House of Representatives to Republican Karen Handel.
He could become a senator this year and is just ahead of Perdue in some polls.
Maine
Incumbent:
Republican Susan Collins
has positioned herself as a moderate politician throughout her political career.
She has been a senator for 24 years.
Trump is a problem for them.
She has criticized him again and again in recent years, most recently she voted against the appeal of his candidate Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
Two years ago, however, she agreed to the appeal of the also controversial judge Brett Kavanaugh and stood behind Trump in the impeachment proceedings.
The voters obviously resent the zigzag course.
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Sara Gideon is just ahead of incumbent Susan Collins in Maine
Photo: BRIAN SNYDER / REUTERS
Challenger:
Democrat Sara Gideon
is currently the House Speaker in Maine.
Above all, it benefits from the poor popularity ratings of its competitor.
In polls, she is just ahead of Collins.
According to the "Cook Political Report" the race is open and both could win.
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Michigan
Incumbent:
Democrat Gary Peters
has been politically active in Washington for eleven years.
Before becoming a Senator in 2014, he was a member of the House of Representatives.
In the 2014 election, he won by 14 percentage points over his Republican opponent Terri Lynn Land.
Nevertheless, the choice between him and challenger John James could be tight this year, at times, according to surveys, Peters was only one percentage point ahead of James.
In the past few weeks, however, Peter's poll numbers have risen again. According to the Cook Political Report, Peters has better chances of winning the seat than James.
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Celebrity Campaign Aid: Senator Gary Peters with Joe Biden and Barack Obama
Photo: Andrew Harnik / AP
Challenger:
John James
is a model Republican.
He was a helicopter pilot in the army, he has three children and an entrepreneur, and he's black.
Republicans are hoping that James could also appeal to black voters who traditionally vote Democrats.
The last polls before the election showed James, however, with five percentage points, well behind Peters.
Montana
Incumbent:
Republican Steve Daines
was elected to the Senate in 2014.
He is loyal to Trump and has praised the president's response to the corona crisis.
Trump "boldly led" the country.
In Montana, Trump is five to six percentage points ahead of challenger Biden.
Daine's problem could be his rival candidate, popular Governor Steve Bullock.
Challenger: The
Democrat Steve Bullock
has been governor of Montana since 2013 and presents himself as a middle-class man who can also work with the Republicans.
He has to, because the Republicans have a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in Montana.
Bullock is already in his second term, so he cannot run for governor of Montana again.
According to the latest polls, Bullock is just ahead of Daines; according to the Cook Political Report, the race is open.
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